Sonder
by Arco Athena
Summary: The Mew Project has failed. Deep Blue reclaims Earth, and the Cyniclons return. Ichigo has to live with the fact that she let her friends and the human race down. On-hold.
1. The Last Battle

_So I just finished re-watching Tokyo Mew Mew for the first time in years. I watched it all the time as a little kid, I drew Ichigo any time I could, and I absolutely loved the manga. I knew I wanted to write a fic for this show, so I took a few days to think of ideas for it. I love reading different endings for a story, so I decided to write one for TMM! I hope you enjoy it. There'll be all kinds of stuff- angst, romance, smut/lemon maybe, and adventure. For now it's rated M. I don't have a clear idea of how it'll end- this is the first time I write something as I go, but I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out!_

* * *

Sonder

 _(n) The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own._

"Strawberry Bell!"

Deep Blue easily deflected the attack, just like he did with every other.

Ichigo cursed under her breath as she landed back on the ground. How was she supposed to beat him?

It was the last battle. Everything, everything depended on the outcome of this one battle.

While she was contemplating on what to do next, Pai and Tart teleported next to Deep Blue.

' _What the hell?!'_

"What… What are you two doing here?!" she cried out. Did this mean the other Mew Mews failed?

Neither of them answered. Pai seemed indifferent, like always, while Tart looked hesitant, but sad when he noticed Kish.

Ichigo turned and looked at Kish, who was lying on the floor. She could only imagine her friends were in the same state. Her heart ached at that thought.

Then it hit her- she was alone. Completely and utterly alone, not even having the Blue Knight at her side.

' _Dammit_.' What was she going to do? ' _Dammit. Dammit. DAMMIT_.'

"Master Deep Blue, do you wish for me to rid you of this one?" Pai asked.

Ichigo awaited his answer, staring at Deep Blue in anticipation. She could barely handle Pai and Tart alone, but what will she do with Deep Blue there? Could she really do this alone?

His expression didn't change. His cold, stoic expression.

"That won't be necessary," he simply said.

What did he mean by that? She wasn't sure. He's so erratic.

Deep Blue smirked subtly, and raised his sword with both hands.

"Finally… I will reclaim Earth!"

Ichigo's instincts forced her to quickly stand up and break towards Deep Blue.

Time seemed to slow down; that sword could bring the human race to an end in an instant. A million thoughts raced through her mind. She had to stop it, she had to. _She had to._

"NO, MASAYA!" She shrieked as she threw herself at Deep Blue, holding on to his legs.

But it was too late.

The sword hit the ground, and everything went black.

* * *

Ichigo slowly awoke, her body aching and nagging at her to stay still. "W-What…" was all she could let out. Why did her body hurt so much?

Then it all came crashing back to her.

Although it took all of her willpower to be able to just move, she was too anxious to stay still and darted up.

She took a brisk look around her. She was still in the castle? How was the castle even standing?

A familiar, dreadful voice filled the room. "Care to take a look outside?"

Not knowing he was right behind her, she let out a small whimper out of fear as she turned around. "Masaya!"

Deep Blue narrowed his eyes. The girl insisted on calling him that even when he already explained that the boy was gone. "He doesn't exist anymore. In fact…" He began to move towards her.

Ichigo took slow steps backwards, trying to keep her distance away from him, but she was trembling. He easily caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

His touch was freezing, which made sense, but it still surprised her and made her jump a little.

"…No other human exists besides you," he whispered.

' _What?'_ Her mind went blank. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

It made perfect sense. Of course no one outside this castle could survive that. She expected it, she _knew_ it would be this way when she realized the last Mew Mew standing was her.

Still, surely there was some way she should respond to all of this? Sobbing, yelling, _something_. But Ichigo had no urge to do _any_ of that. Although she knew this was the truth, it was hard to believe. Maybe it hadn't hit her yet.

Without a word, Deep Blue teleported Ichigo and himself outside where the battle was initially.

It took a minute for Ichigo's eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did, they widened.

Everything was destroyed. The plethora of skyscrapers and buildings that once stood were now nothing but rubble. It was a barren wasteland, with no person in sight. The sky was an unseemly shade of red and gray from all the dust.

"When I am finished rebuilding Earth, this place will be filled with the trees, flowers, and unpolluted water this planet once had," the alien ruler spoke as he eyed the scenery.

Ichigo didn't listen to a word he said. All she could think about was how this place was once her home. How every person that stood here had no idea what hit them, and had plans for the future of their own. How the devil that stood next to her took all of that away from them. From her.

She felt power draining from her, and in a second she was back in her school uniform. The transformation wore off.

Pai, Tart, and Kish appeared behind them, with Kish being supported by both of them in the middle. Kish and Tart were both gaping at their surroundings.

Ichigo noticed a strange, brown colored object sticking out of some rubble a few feet away from her. She approached it gradually, her body still sore, and cleared out the rubble hiding the rest of it. It was a teddy bear with half of its body gone.

She scrutinized it, her hands shaking, while trying to imagine the owner. A child was holding on to their teddy bear when Deep Blue raised his sword. Because of her, because she couldn't stop him, this child's life ended.

"This…" she croaked, turning around slowly. Ichigo could feel a lump in her throat. It hurt to talk. "This is what you wanted?" Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Ichigo…" Kish muttered.

 _Now_ it hit her. She was the last human on Earth. Her friends, family- they were all gone forever. The Mew Project has failed.

* * *

 _That's it for chapter one! I hope you guys liked it. Let me know what you thought! :D_


	2. Incubus

_Here's Chapter 2, everyone! It's a lot longer than Chapter 1, but I hope that's not a problem! A little Kish X Ichigo in this one._

* * *

 _Ichigo was standing in the middle of the city, skyscrapers towering over her._

 _There were thousands of people all squished together, like there wasn't enough space.  
They were all standing still, expressionless. _

_For some reason she didn't notice before, but the sky wasn't visible. Because of the skyscrapers? She wasn't sure. Everything was a bit blurry._

 _The scene shifted. There was nothing in sight; it was all black. Ichigo's eyes were open, she was sure, but it didn't make a difference even when she tried closing them. Same color._

 _She tried walking forward, but it didn't feel like she was moving. Ichigo looked down. Is there a floor?_

 _The second she looked up, she found the Mew Mews facing her, all of them glaring._

" _G-Guys?"_

 _No response._

 _Suddenly, Ryou appeared in front of the Mew Mews with his arms folded. He grew bigger, and bigger, and in seconds he was several feet tall._

" _You failed." was all he said._

" _Ryou!" She ran towards him and the others, trying to get closer to them, but no advancement was made._

" _I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She cried desperately._

 _The scene shifted again. Ichigo was back in the city, but now she could see the sky. It was a shade of red and gray. It terrified her, made her quiver, but why? Where did she see this color before?_

 _This time, the people around her had aghast expressions on their faces. They were completely still. She heard thousands of different voices, as if the people were speaking even though their faces remained unchanged._

 _Among all the voices, one was the loudest. "Strawberry Bell!"_

 _It sounded like her voice, but it wasn't. Ichigo wasn't even transformed. Where did it come from?_

 _Then, the ground started trembling. The skyscrapers started to tumble down, and all the voices turned into deafening screams. Ichigo tried to scream as well, but no sound came out. She was drowning in millions of pounds of rubble, but it didn't feel like that. It felt like falling._

" _Alien alert! Alien alert!"_

Ichigo's eyes fluttered open and she jerked up, banging into something. "Ow!" Two voices yelped. One was hers, one was…

"Kish?!"

"Geez, Ichigo…" He groaned, rubbing his forehead.

Ichigo was in a bed, with Kish straddling her.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted at him.

"I was trying to wake you up!"

"You couldn't do that from the side of the bed?!"

"You'd think!"

So he tried that? Was she really that deep in her sleep? She sighed.

Then she remembered her dream. "Ugh…" she quietly mumbled with her head down.

"You were having a nightmare… You've been sleeping for 3 days. I was worried…"

He did look worried. But she didn't want to talk about it. At least, not with an alien.

"Just… leave me be…"

He knew she felt guilty. "None of this is your fault."

That tightening feeling of her throat came again. She didn't want to cry now, not in front of him. She shut her eyes.

Kish felt responsible for everything. He hated seeing her like that, and he wanted to help her, but how could he? Of course she didn't want to talk to him, he was a Cyniclon.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo."

She looked up at him. Why was _he_ sorry? She didn't blame him. He nearly died trying to save her from Deep Blue, and here she was making him feel terrible. She had enough things to feel guilty about.

"No, don't be…" Ichigo let out, trying not to let any tears fall. "T-Thank you… for trying to save me that time…" She smiled weakly, but it was no use. She was thankful, but that's not what she was thinking about. Tears slid down her cheek.

And once they fall, they don't stop.

"It's all my fault! They were counting on me and yet…" She wept, trying to wipe her tears away as she wailed, but they just kept coming. "It was my attack that killed everyone." She said, referring to her dream. It may as well have been her who killed everyone. "All my friends… and Ryou… they were glaring at m-me…"

Kish has never seen her this upset. He didn't know what to say to make her feel better. What do you say to someone who just lost everyone important to them at once? He felt useless. He hesitated, but decided to embrace her.

Ichigo held onto his shirt and continued to cry for a little while longer.

She felt relief letting it out, and finally started to calm down, her weeping turning into low sniffling. "I-I'm sorry…" she quietly apologized and let go of the hug.

He grinned and shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

Now she felt a little embarrassed and awkward after throwing a fit like that. She looked for a different topic to talk about, and Ichigo remembered that Kish told her she was asleep for 3 days.

"I can't believe I slept through my birthday."

He blinked. "Your birthday?"

Nodding, she said, "It was yesterday."

The sound of a knob turning resonated through the room, and Pai entered.

The purple haired alien took notice of Ichigo's flushed face; she was obviously crying, but he didn't comment on it. "Kish, you know you shouldn't be here."

"Yeah… I was only checking on her. He looked him in the eye.

Pai knew what that look meant. 'Please don't tell Deep Blue.' He sighed and shook his head. "Ichigo."

"Yes…?" What could he want from her?

"Master Deep Blue has requested that I study your power and your DNA. I've been waiting for you to wake up. So now is the time."

They spent a few moments just staring at each other.

"I don't get a say in this, do I?" A rhetorical question.

No response.

Of course she didn't.

"Fine," she grumbled as she got out of bed. "Can I at least go to the bathroom first?"

"Don't take too long. There's one right next to this room."

When she left room, Kish turned to Pai. "Hey, Pai. Is it okay if I borrow your computer for a while?"

He raised his eyebrow. "Why?"

"I just wanna look a few things up. Just until you're done with Ichigo." He begged.

"Don't give it another virus."

"Hey, that was an accident!"

' _So is lending you my computer,'_ he thought as he exited the room.

He leaned against the door with his arms crossed, waiting for Ichigo.

Several minutes passed.

' _How long do girls take in the restroom?'_

As if on cue, Ichigo opened the door to the bathroom and turned to Pai.

"Follow me," he said.

She did just that. Neither of them said a word as they walked down the hall to who knows where.

The hall was endless. They must have passed like 30 rooms. How big was this castle anyway?

After what seemed like an eternity, Pai finally stopped in front of a door that looked like every other damn door in this castle. "How do you differentiate between all these doors?"

"It's not that hard." Curt like always.

He opened the door and they walked in.

A lab. Ichigo looked around. It was brightly lit and looked very clean. White cabinets lined the walls, punctuated by floor-to-ceiling glass cases that displayed different equipment. The table had two sinks and gas hook ups at the center. Nothing else rested on its surface; the space was immaculate. It had the feel of a hospital, with everything being so organized.

But it was also somewhat creepy; there were tubes with animals she had never seen before. They looked frozen in time. It made her nervous- what was Pai going to do with her?

"Lay down here," he pointed to a thin white bed. Well, that's what she tried to focus on. But surrounding the bed was what she could only call death equipment. "Uh, is this going to hurt?"

He shook his head.

That didn't really make her feel better. ' _I guess this is better than staying in that room with nothing to do other than think about everyone…_ ' She thought as she approached the bed and lied down.

Pai hooked up stuff all over her body, mostly on her head and limbs.

Ichigo had no idea what the stuff was; it kind of looked like the equipment they use in hospitals to check your vital signs.

When he finished, he sat down in front of the computer near the bed and started typing.

Once again, no words were being exchanged between the two.

Ichigo couldn't handle the silence. It always made her think her breathing was too loud, and that any movement would cause too much noise.

"So, uh… What are you doing?"

"Downloading your DNA."

"Right."

Another decade of no talking.

She gave up and stared at the ceiling. Her mind started to wander and inevitably landed on the thought of everyone.

What would life be like now? How would she ever forgive herself for letting Deep Blue win? She didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to everyone. It was still a little hard to believe. The thought of never seeing her family and friends again seemed so surreal.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Pai's voice.

"Your green haired friend… What was her name again?" He continued typing and didn't turn away from the computer.

She looked at him. "Lettuce?"

"Right."

Why would he mention her? Did something happen between them?

"What about her?"

"Nothing… She was just interesting. She was nice, and actually tried to convince me to stop fighting before she ever tried to attack."

Ichigo took a few moments to respond. "…Yeah… She was the nicest one out of all of us. I remember she questioned why we were fighting you guys. She said we could come to an understanding, because we all had feelings." The memory of her made Ichigo's heart hurt. Why was Pai talking about her all of a sudden? "…Did you like her?"

"I'm finished." He disregarded the question, and unhooked everything.

As Ichigo climbed out of bed, the door pushed open.

"Ah, you guys are finished, yes!"

"Kish?"

"Koneko-chan! I have something to show you, come with me!"

* * *

Kish teleported Ichigo and himself out of the castle.

Ichigo gazed at the outside world. It was a wide open space with thousands of flowers everywhere. The sky was a bright, clear blue with no clouds in sight. She could see a giant forest was several miles away.

"When… When did this happen?" She was sure they were in the same place where the battle took place.

"Beautiful, isn't it? This is the work of Mew Aqua. But this isn't what I wanted to show you!"

"Then what did you want to show me?"

"First off is the Great Wall of China!"

"The-" But before she could finish, Kish teleported her and himself again.

Ichigo opened her eyes, and in front of her was miles and miles of stone and brick.

The Great Wall of China.

Her eyes widened and a small smile formed. "Kish… Why are we here?"

"Your birthday was yesterday. I wanted to get you out of the castle."

She shook her head in disbelief. "This is…"

"Yeah, the Great Wall of China!"

That's not what she was going to say.

He continued. "A lot of it is gone, obviously… But still, a lot of it is left! It was built around 2,000 years ago to keep the Mongolians and other invaders out of China."

Surprised wasn't a strong enough word to describe how Ichigo felt. "Where did you learn that?"

Kish blushed, a little embarrassed. "I looked it up while you were with Pai."

Ichigo smiled. For him to do all that, and to take her all the way here… Was Kish really a good person? She turned to the view. "It reminds me of a dragon."

"Wanna go to the next place?"

"Next place?!" Isn't this enough?!

"Let's go!"

This time, Kish brought her to Egypt to see the Great Pyramid of Giza.

"The Great Pyramid of Giza was built for the Fourth Dynasty Pharaoh Khufu. It's the largest pyramid ever built, and it's made of 2.3 million stone blocks."

She laughed. "Do you even know what any of that means?"

"Not a clue!"

"A pharaoh is a ruler in ancient Egypt… They were treated like gods." She remembered that from World History class.

"A god, huh? That sounds really- Hey, wait a second! I'm the one giving the tour here!"

She suppressed a chuckle. "What's the next destination?"

"I think you'll like it!" They teleported once again.

Paris.

"The Eiffel Tower!" Ichigo's eyes shined, her little girl side coming out. She was in the most romantic city in the world.

It was damaged, but it was standing. It was actually one of the few things standing in the whole city. It must have been far away enough from Deep Blue's attack.

"The Eiffel Tower was the main exhibit of the Paris Exposition of 1889. It was built to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution and to show off France's industrial prowess to the world."

"It's gorgeous. Paris must have been really pretty… I've always wanted to go here…" She thought of moving here a lot of times in the far future, possibly with Masaya. The thought of him made her sad, but she didn't want to think about that right now. She would have enough time for that in the castle.

Ichigo looked at Kish. "Thank you so much for this."

"Don't thank me yet, we still have two more places to go!"

Now they were in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, looking up at the statue _Christ the Redeemer_.

"It was actually created by a French sculptor… I hear this person, Jesus Christ, was important to humans?"

"Yeah… Christianity was one of the biggest religions. Many people thought of him as God." She turned to Kish. "Do your people believe in anything like that?"

"We used to... But after some time, we kind of just stopped. I guess some of my people might still believe in it, but we had bigger issues."

She felt the same way. If there was a god, they wouldn't let this happen. At least, no god she would respect.

"Ready to go to the last place?"

She nodded.

It was New York City in America.

"The Statue of Liberty, right?" Ichigo asked. America was one of the places Ichigo would have loved to visit. She's seen hundreds of photos of the giant towers in New York, but most of them are gone now. At least this statue was still standing.

"Right. It was a gift to the U.S. from the people of France."

She faced him. "I can't believe you memorized all this for me, Kish."

He grinned. "Does that mean I get a kiss?"

"Do you know what the U.S. stands for?"

"Uh, no."

She beamed. "Learn what it means!" She said, as she ran inside the statue.

"Aw, that isn't- Hey wait!" He flew after her.

Ichigo ran up the stairs of the statue, not even knowing if this was safe, but she didn't really care, she was too giddy. That feeling quickly went away when she started getting exhausted from all the climbing. "How…" She panted. "How big is this plaaaaaace?!" She raged. ' _I need to exercise_.'

Kish flew next to her while she was struggling to climb the stairs. He laughed.

"What are you laughing at?!"

"That's what you get for not giving me a kiss."

"Ugh, you're a little-! " She started complaining, but he interrupted her by picking her up bridal style and continuing to fly up the stairs. "You're very loud, Koneko-chan."

"Who said you could pick me up?"

"Would you rather continue to climb the stairs like you were before?"

She pouted.

A few seconds later, they were at the top. Ichigo looked at the view.

"Wow…" She peered outside the window. There was a chilly breeze, and she could hear the sound of waves. Where there were buildings before, there were now hundreds of trees and the sound of their leaves rustling. Both of them were quiet for some time, but this time Ichigo wasn't uncomfortable with the silence between them. She felt relaxed. "Hey, Kish? I wanted to thank you."

"It's no big deal."

"No, it is. I've been really depressed, and it'll take some time to recover…But this was a big help."

"Really?" He looked hopeful. Just this morning he felt so useless, like he couldn't do anything to help make Ichigo feel better.

She smiled. "Yes, really. You did all this just for my birthday?"

"Well that, and well… I wanted to make up for the way I've treated you in the past."

She blinked. "I didn't know you felt bad about that…"

He nodded. "I decided, in the end, I just want you to be happy." After stopping for a second, he whispered, "…even if it's not with me."

She couldn't find the words. "Kish…" He really was a kind person inside.

The alien broke the silence. "Anyway, we have to go. Deep Blue doesn't exactly want me with you."

"O-Oh…" She said, caught off guard with the change of topic.

He gently took her arm, and before she knew it, they were back in Japan.

* * *

Kish was panting a little bit. "Man, I'm tired… Just gimme a minute…" He sighed, as he flopped onto the grass.

"Really? How come?"

"Because I carried you all the way to the top of that statue."

She was about to complain when he continued, "Juuust kidding, honey! It's just teleporting so much like that and so far away really tires me out."

"Oh."

Suddenly, a giant shadow was cast over the ground. "What…" Ichigo whispered as she turned around.

Kish opened his eyes and slowly got up. "Oh man…" He whispered.

Ichigo's eyes widened. There were two giant spaceships approaching.

The Cyniclons have arrived.

* * *

 _I've seen a lot of people have a problem with Kish's actions in the past, so I wanted to address it. In the end of the manga, he stated he just wanted Ichigo to be happy, and he thanked her for letting him love her, even when it was a hopeless love. In the next few chapters, it'll make more sense why he did all that. Also, I made Ichigo older in this fic. Right now she just turned 17, or 18, around there. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it! Please let me know what you thought. :)_


End file.
